Chapter 15 Zayn
~Zayn~
This night had been a clusterfuck.
No. Actually, that didn’t even scratch the goddamn surface of it.
It had been one motherfucking thing after another.
Pure fucking chaos.
And the most insane thing of all out of the whole thing was that for once I hadn’t been the one bringing the chaos.
What the hell was happening?
Evira and I had just walked back onto campus from hanging at Vantiqe, where we’d actually managed to have a nice time together despite the whole Torvek attack situation, and then Vaxan had suddenly teleported right in front of us.
He’d told us about all the shit that had gone down with Winter on Mordrek Mountains.
Some really bad shit that had ended with Winter taking off in a panicked rush.
Vaxan hadn’t been able to track him, because Winter had masked his magical signature.
So he’d come to me and Evira. Me—because I knew Win really well and could provide some locations that he’d possibly retreat to.
And Evira because she could scent-track him.
I mean, Vaxan had that capability, but it had been muted by something Winter had done when he’d taken off on him, something that had specifically prevented Vaxan from being able to get a lock on his scent.
And now here Vaxan and I were pushing through the crowds at Polaris, while Evira was out scent-tracking.
It was the fifth place he and I had tried.
I hadn’t wanted it to come to bringing anybody here, because it was gonna come out any second now about Winter’s feeding.
There was no way Vaxan would buy some excuse from me about Win coming here to blow off steam from a sexual standpoint.
Win didn’t exactly do well with one-nighters, given his attachment issues.
Fuck.
I’d come so far in getting Win to see I wasn’t the same brash, insensitive shithead I had been to him anymore, and now I was about to out this secret of his.
A secret he didn’t even know I was clued in on.
“This establishment certainly lives up to its reputation,” Vaxan commented, his voice cutting through the bass-heavy music reverberating through the place and the noise from all the patrons doing their things and living it up.
Since we’d walked in mere moments ago, the tension that’d been radiating off him already due to the Winter situation had skyrocketed.
He didn’t like it here—too many people, too much of a free-for-all everywhere, too much to watch out for.
I figured knowing what I did so far about him that it had to do with that for him.
And, yeah, there was a lot going on. Especially when you weren’t walking in here for the purpose this place intended of letting loose or partying.
His eyes were in their serpentine form because he was in a deeply hypervigilant state, and his gaze was darting all around constantly, bouncing off the golden chandeliers above, the erotic dancers in the luxurious cages up there too.
There were people drinking, dining, and even getting it on in the velvet-draped balconies.
The dance floor by the plush violet and crimson booths was packed with writhing, half-naked beings.
And in the booths themselves, and even over by the bar, a fuck of a lot was happening.
I caught sight of a group of sorceresses gathered around one of the booths, one of them tugging on the leash around the neck of a sorcerer who was on the table as the others played with him.
Stroking, teasing him with a magical dildo, a whole lot of licking, some light flogging on his back and balls and—look away.
Unfortunately, averting my eyes only led me to another sexual sight of some vampires feeding on a werewolf couple who were in chains at the end of the bar and growling excitedly as they were being pleasured by the vamps with their vampiric speed in…
very creative ways, while a couple of the vamps filled shot glasses with their blood and passed it down the bar.
I swallowed hard and kept my gaze on the pleasure room zone not far from us now.
Our target location.
Well, one in particular. The one right in the corner that I knew Win favored.
“Almost there,” I assured Vaxan, gesturing at the far end of the space, a straight line beyond the booths and dance floor, the area marked off by a shimmering violet and scarlet magical curtain.
His magic briefly sparked and he dematerialized the winter coat he’d had on when he’d come to Evira and me earlier. I grinned as he tugged at his black muscle tee that was doing awesome things to emphasize all that carved-from-marble physique of his.
“What?” he asked, eyes narrowing.
Yeah, he was really worked up. More than I’d actually thought possible for him.
That terse response, instead of his usual unflappable demeanor, then him actually sweating when I thought Basilisks could regulate their body temperatures when it came to the heat of it all.
I mean, he’d obviously needed that big coat that Win had conjured for him when they’d headed to the mountains, but cold was different to heat. I should know.
“Too much for you, huh? This place?”
“We’re here on a mission, not to… indulge.”
“And all the stuff happening around is threatening to impact your focus?”
He looked away. “Just continue to lead the way to this specific site within this locus of unchecked debauchery.”
Despite everything, a laugh burst from me.
I felt a slap to my back, a rush of sensation rolling through me that had me choking down my laugh.
I shot a look over my shoulder and my gaze locked with Vaxan’s.
“I wouldn’t do that again. I’m really fucking worked up.
I’m guessing your senses are on overload right now with all this so you’re not sensing it from me.
But, yeah, right on the edge, Your Majesty.
So, unless you want to deal with that, I’d avoid physical contact until we get out of here. ”
“Please. You have wished for me to ‘deal with that’ for you since the moment I made you overhear my fornication with Winter.”
He had me jolting then as he gracefully eased himself to my left side, strategically forcing the throngs of people around us to make room for us to walk side-by-side, rather than single-file as we had been since we’d entered the place.
And he remained with his shoulder pressed against mine.
Obviously on purpose.
My punishment for calling him out.
How had he managed to so smoothly and effortlessly turn his own uncomfortableness into screwing with me?
He was… another level.
And it was hot as all fuck.
Of course, he knew that.
Knew that I saw it that way.
And him that way.
“Fuck,” I uttered.
His lips twitched with amusement.
And a little sadism. He liked that he was able to impact me this way, the control it gave him over this part of me, maybe. Normally, I’d run from that, but lately… with Evira... altering toward Winter too… it just didn’t cause that panic in me.
I blinked back to the immediate as we reached our target, and passed through the magical curtain into the private rooms section of the club.
“It’s that one,” I informed Vaxan, gesturing at the private room right in the left corner.
“All right.” He broke delicious shoulder contact with me, and started toward it.
“Wait!” I called out, snatching his bicep.
Another shot of heat went through me. I’d meant to grab his wrist, not something so… erotic. Especially on him with the way they bulged and flexed and—get a grip, man.
He swung back to me in question, eyeing my hand on him, before flicking his sexy serpentine gaze to mine.
“You need to brace yourself,” I warned him.
He arched an eyebrow. “Exclusivity hasn’t been established between Winter and I, nor any of us. Despite things clearly moving in that direction, especially with the events of tonight, nothing has yet been instituted.”
“So, because a rule hasn’t been etched in stone, or whatever, it wouldn’t even upset you to see Win screwing around with somebody else?”
“I would simply have no right to be upset.”
I rolled my eyes. “Come on.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re into him, big time. Just like you’re getting there with our ice dragon princess too… close to crossing a line with me. Some rule isn’t gonna wick away any upset if you found Win fornicating—your lovely word—outside of this weird almost-unit we’ve got going on.”
He started at my words, actually hesitating with his next reaction, or move.
I released his bicep and softened my voice. “Look, honestly, that’s not why he comes here, anyway.”
He frowned. “I don’t follow. What else is there to indulge in? And why reference our developing dynamic or warn me of that occurring within this room at all?”
“Because I’m an asshole, obviously. Because you got under my skin.
And of course, I had to get under yours in response.
I guess I also wanted to see your reaction, to figure out where you’re really at when it comes to him and…
this developing dynamic, as you called it.
” I folded my arms across my chest. “But the warning was actually necessary. Just not for the reason you think. It’s not about fucking. ”
I could see his nostrils flaring, trying to scent the immediate area to ascertain the answer himself. He wouldn’t be able to smell a thing. The privacy of those inside the rooms was magically protected.
I sighed and revealed, “It’s about blood.”
“Excuse me?”
I brushed past him and walked to the golden curtain shielding what was going on inside the room. I pressed my palm to the translucent film, calling my fuchsia power forth a little—a magical form of a knock in this place.
With my magic live, I called out, “Carter? Rosalynn?” I wasn’t sure which one of them Win was with, but those were his two regulars.
It was gonna be one or the other. Every now and then, Win would branch out, but one of those two would still remain.
It gave him some grounding comfort. “You guys done? Send Winter out.”
Vaxan came up on my side just as the curtain fluttered open a little.